Day One: Tuesday, April 5, 2011

 

NanoManufacturing

 

Welcome and Introduction  

KEYNOTE: Interesting vs. Innovative
Jon Rambeau, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Innovation is the process that translates knowledge into economic value. It encompasses a series of technological, organizational, financial, and commercial activities. As with any technology new to the market, nanotechnology brings unique transition challenges. Jon Rambeau will address the strategy phase of technology development, discuss the best allocation of resources and examine the qualities of successful transitions.

As a member of Lockheed Martin's Corporate Engineering & Technology organization, Rambeau serves as vice president for technology transition. In this role, Rambeau develops and executes plans for transitioning innovations that are initiated and supported through corporate technology investments into the corporation's business units, to support further maturity and business growth objectives.

Rambeau joined Lockheed Martin in 1996 and has held various leadership and management positions in manufacturing operations for US Navy's Aegis weapons system program, developing corporate-wide procurement strategies and supplier agreements for embedded computing products and power supply systems, Transportation Security Administration's Strategic Airport Security Rollout (SASR) airport security enhancement program, homeland security, and building a biometric credentialing business. He holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and received an M.S. in Management of Technology from The Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania's College of Engineering.

Nanomanufacturing with Polymers: Converting Research to Reality
Joey Mead, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

A suite of templates and assembly processes for directing the assembly of a variety of nanoelements, including nanoparticles, nanotubes, and polymers has been developed. These assembly processes utilize both electric fields and/or chemical functionalization. Chemically functionalized templates have been used to direct the assembly of polymer blends into uniform and nonuniform patterns. Using a short solvent annealing step allows the assembly of multiple length scales on a single template. Electrophoretic and Dielectrophoretic assembly processes have been used to pattern conducting polymers followed by transfer to a secondary substrate. Conducting polymers and carbon nanotubes have been successfully transferred to a polymer substrate. The entire process of patterning and transfer takes less than five minutes, which is commercially relevant and can be utilized for real time processing. In addition to template directed assembly processes, the research includes high rate, high volume mixing of nanoelements (CNTs, etc.) into polymers, extruded multilayer films, and electrospinning of nanofibers. These nanomanufacturing processes can be used in a number of applications, including EMI shielding, flexible electronics, structural materials, and novel sensors. The environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanomanufacturing are also addressed.

Break  

Programmable Soft Lithography: Solvent-assisted Nanoscale Embossing (SANE)
Teri Odom, Northwestern University

This presentation will describe an all-moldable nanofabrication platform that can generate "from a single master" large-area nanoscale patterns with programmable densities, fill factors, and lattice symmetries. Solvent-assisted nanoscale embossing (SANE) can increase the spacing of patterns up to 100% as well as decrease them down to 50% in a single step by stretching or heating a polymer substrate. Also, SANE can reduce critical feature sizes as small as 45% compared to the master by controlled swelling of patterned molds with different solvents. To demonstrate how these tools can create functional nanomaterials, we will discuss how plasmonic nanoparticle arrays with continuously variable separations, and hence different optical properties, can be generated on the same substrate.

Break  

Applications of Carbon Nanotubes to Achieve Enhanced Performance and Cost Reduction
Margaret Johns, Bluewater Consulting

Global investments in nanotechnology are beginning to yield products that have the potential to breathe new life into mature markets, create new markets, and change the way products are manufactured. Less than ten years ago, manufacturing of carbon nanotubes was considered a novel endeavor. Today carbon nanotubes are widely-available and are used in a range of applications as diverse as microelectronics and sporting goods. Understanding how carbon nanotube-based composites may be uniquely applied to classic business problems of market differentiation and cost reduction is an imperative for manufacturing professionals. The unique properties that may now be achieved by these novel materials may be leveraged to address issues of competitiveness and cost that are of critical importance to companies seeking growth in the midst of economic challenges. This presentation will provide an overview of carbon nanotube-based composites, the integrity and robustness of these materials, the applications for which they are being applied, and their impact on manufacturing.

Group Lunch & Exhibits  

Review of Nanopositioning for Nanomanufacturing and Metrology Applications
Vijay Shilpiekandula, Mitsubishi

Emerging areas of micro and nanomanufacturing have increasing demands for precision positioning and angular alignment at fine resolutions and high bandwidths. Shilpiekandula will present an overview of the state-of-art precision positioners, and highlight key hardware and software features that are needed for them to work reliably in practical industrial applications of micro and nanomanufacturing. Target applications include precision positioning of a probe or sample in atomic force microscopy, alignment of tool and sample in stamping processes such as micro-hot-embossing, and fine-positioning of wafer steppers in semiconductor manufacturing.

As demands for precision increase further, non-linearities such as friction and backlash need to be minimized as much as possible. Promising approaches using flexure-based positioners have surfaced in the recent years. I will cover advances in flexure-based nanopositioning, highlighting the need for a co-design approach which marries the end performance requirements to both mechanical hardware and software control or correction algorithms. A detailed methodology for innovating flexure-based mechanism topologies, precision actuator and sensor selection and placement, and subsequent optimization and real-time control are presented. Specific case studies that will go over the proposed methodology include conceptual design, fabrication and testing of a (i) large-load capacity positioner applicable for micro-hot-embossing and (ii) a high-bandwidth flexure-based scanner for positioning a probe or a sample in scanning probe microscopy.

Break  

Improving the Performance of Micro End Mills Using Nanocrystalline Diamond Coatings
Patrick Heaney, NCD Technologies

This presentation will show that thin diamond coatings can dramatically enhance the performance of micrometer-scale cutting tools. For this study, 300 µm diameter tungsten carbide (WC) micro end mills were coated with a diamond coating of thickness of 150 nm. The performance of the uncoated and coated tools has been evaluated by dry machining channels in 6061-T6 aluminum. The test results demonstrate lower tool wear and breakage, lower adhesion of aluminum to the tool, and significantly lower cutting forces for the coated tools. The coatings achieve a more predictable surface finish and enable dry machining at high speeds (40,000 rpm) with little to no burr formation. The improved performance of the coated tools is a result of the superior tribological properties of nanocrystalline diamond against aluminum, specifically low friction, low adhesion, and low wear of the film. Since the coating allows machining without lubricants and essentially eliminates metal burrs, this approach can reduce the environmental impact of micromachining processes and offers greatly improved performance for micro and meso-scale manufacturing applications. Additionally, the reduction in forces could be used to increase the material removal rate, reducing the part machining cost by the same factor.

Break & Exhibits  

Self-assembled Nanostructures
Wei Lu, University of Michigan

Advanced technologies demand solid structures of ever decreasing size scales. Self-assembly is a promising low-cost and high-throughput approach to fabricate and pattern nanoscale features. Insights into functioning energetic forces at this scale and development of advanced simulation capability for the nanofabrication process become increasingly valuable. Recent work to understand and explore various self-assembly mechanisms to pattern nanoscale structures will be presented. The modeling and simulation of the self-assembly process and guided self-assembly suggest that these mechanisms may be broadly applied to diverse systems and thus enable a broad range of applications and potential products. Examples include self-organized nanophase patterns on solid surfaces, guided assembly by surface chemistry and strain field, patterning multilayer of molecules via dipole interaction, electric field induced ordered nanostructures, filament nanostructures formed by capillary forces, and growing large nanostructured superlattices by sequential activation of self-assembly. How these structures may motivate novel applications in solar cells, drug testing, sensors and biomimetic structures will be shown.

Break

Applications of Tip Based Lithography in NanoMedicine
Saju Nettikadan, NanoInk

In diagnostics, miniaturization has the potential for higher detection sensitivity, reduced assay time, and better compatibility with lab-on-a-chip technologies. Miniaturization technologies also enable the interrogation of cellular processes at single cell levels which could prove to be invaluable to tissue engineering. A tip based lithography platform and related applications for MEMS biosensor functionalization and single cell assays has been developed. This platform has the potential to play a fundamental role in developing novel manufacturing methods for Nanobiomedical sciences.

Exhibits Reception